This blog is dedicated to service members and veterans who, like me, never realized the implications of their military training.
The military taught us how to Armor Up for war, this blog can help you Armor Down to thrive as a civilian.

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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Redskins Name Change, Insurgency, and The Art of Peace

Foundations are everything.

Unless The Lord Builds the houseThose who build it labor in vainUnless The Lord watches over the cityThe watchmen stays awake in vain.It is in vain that you rise up earlyAnd go late to rest,Eating the bread of anxious toil;For he gives to his beloved sleep.Lo, children are a heritage from The Lord.

Psalm 127:1-3

Naught’s had, all’s spent,Where our desire is got without content.'Tis safer to be that which we destroyThan by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.

Shakespeare, Macbeth

Build on a foundation of sand or an idea that lacks virtue at your own peril.

I write this frowning because I am talking about the name of a team I've loved all my life, the Washington Redskins.

What do you do if the name of your team is founded on sand?

Originally, redskins were once people that were feared.

Whether it was the settler that survived an attack or the city dweller reading about it, scalping was some savage shit.

Anyway, redskin was not said with honor.

Maybe we revere what we fear but for some reason redskin became a mascot.

The Washington Redskins owner at the time was a racist SOB named George Preston Marshall.

Marshall fought integrating the team until 1962 making the Skins the last team to do so.

During that time the team stunk and a year later Marshall was removed as the boss.

So here we are a buncha years and 3 Superbowls later.

To Millions, Redskin means:

WarriorHonor Tradition Courage

We are a feared, proud, team, with players and fans that live and breath burgundy and gold.

How do you explain to someone who never for one moment thought her team name meant something bad that what she loves is a derogatory slur?

There are millions like her.

What to do?

What I think Snyder should do is take a page out of the Art of Peace and blend with the force opposing him.

It's early now and Snyder might think that he has the power but as every soldier who has ever fought an insurgency will tell you, almost anything you do to oppose an insurgency makes it stronger.

Snyder already made this mistake when he said without hesitation that the Skins would never change their name.

To blend with the situation Snyder should create a dialog with the Oneida Indian Nation. That dialog should be centered around the creation of a ceremony that would be conducted at Redskins stadium. The ceremony should lay to rest the Redskin name and herald a new beginning for a team that means no disrespect and wants to do the right thing.

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About Me

Regardless of branch, we service members were trained from day one that being hyper-vigilance and putting the mission first meant the difference between life and death.
Down range these fundamentals are force multipliers for the military, but back home they can contribute to dis-ease for the individual.
I developed the training principles of Armor Down by dedicating 114 weeks of my life to the study of The Art of Peace (AOP), the practice of Mindfulness to tame my hyper vigilant mind and the use of exercise to re-train my mind to listen to my body instead of ignore it. This Blog represents the first example of how a service member can use the AOP as a path to thriving as a civilian.